We used to operate all of our group homes as families with a mom, dad and staff. The staff were looked upon as extended family. Things change, and we have had to change all our group homes from a family model to programs with an administrator, assistant manager, and staff. It has been a difficult change for us as well as for the children who were part of the old system.

It is difficult to build relationships under these circumstances. Many children used to yell at us, "You're not my real mother!" Today they say, "You're just in this for the money and you don't care about us!" More than anything, time was on our side, and given enough time we were able to make good relationships with the children. Under those circumstances many of our children graduated, found jobs, even went to college and so many got married that Jim bought a tuxedo. We do not have time on our side any more. The state wants us to run a more therapeutic program and do it in way less time. This calls for a real fine tuning of our program, more extensive training and skill building of our staff, and a more stringent oversight process.

We are up to the challenge, and will use what we know about building relationships, teaching Choice Theory and using Reality Therapy to do it. We would like to hear from all the former clients on our ideas and your ideas also. It would be so good to hear what worked for you, what you think would be helpful within the confines of the program we are now required to run.

Leave a Reply.

Author

"My name is Carla Atkinson and this is a blog for foster parents and group homes. We will discuss laws, new and old. We will share ideas and we together, we will work to make the lives of children a little better."

Jim & Carla Atkinson have been married 54 years, raised more than 200 foster children and have 80 grandchildren (and more on the way!) Together they have six group homes and one large campus in California. Carla Atkinson, the author, created this space to share highs and lows, and support others who love kids as much as we do. Please visitthe Atkinson Family Services website for more information.